Naegi stared down at the bottle of poison in shock, not wanting to believe his own memory. It was possible he was wrong about what had been in that bottle, wasn't it? After all, it didn't look quite the same without the cap, and it wasn't like he was looking at it from up close. He could have been mistaken, just momentarily overcome by its similarity to the type of poison that had already caused them all so much pain.
Except that he knew he wasn't mistaken. The skull and crossbones on the label were proof enough that he couldn't be. That bottle had come from the cabinet of poisons in the chemistry lab — and Kirigiri herself had told them that there had only been one type of poison that could be used as a gas.
This was the poison that Fukawa had coated on her needles in her attempt to murder Togami, the one that actually had killed Hagakure. It was the one Ogami had meant to use when she'd intended to commit suicide to try to stop her betrayal from tearing the surviving students apart. And it was the one that Kirigiri had chosen as part of her plan to fake a murder attempt.
And it shouldn't have been there. After Fukawa's trial, the two bottles of poison she and Ogami had taken were gone, leaving only the one Kirigiri had — and they'd gotten rid of that one, Naegi was sure of it. He, Kirigiri, and Togami had all been present when they'd locked the poison in the dojo locker, and they'd stayed together to watch Togami burn the key. That poison should have been safely out of reach, unable to be used in another murder attempt. How could it be lying there on the floor in front of him now?
Naegi looked over at Togami, hoping the other boy might have some kind of explanation for the impossible occurrence — but Togami's gaze was locked down on the bottle, his mouth a thin line. He wouldn't see anything that Naegi tried to say to him now, and Naegi had the feeling that trying to get Togami's attention by kicking him while he was this deep in concentration would make him jump out of his skin. He didn't want to terrify the other boy just to get him to look up — especially not when Togami was kneeling mere inches away from a bottle that had contained deadly poison.
And… this wasn't the first time Togami would have been so close to that poison, was it? Naegi turned sharply to look over towards the fan and the still-wet sponges lying beside it. If this empty bottle really had contained poison, however the culprit had gotten hold of it… then that meant that at least one of those sponges had to be filled with its contents. When Togami had first discovered the body and felt the effects of the drug in the air, he hadn't been breathing in some relatively innocuous knockout drug from the clinic — it had been poison. And if he'd been distracted by investigating the corpse, if he hadn't been able to get out fast enough, then he wouldn't just have collapsed for the culprit to deal with later. He would have been…
A horrible gasping sob shuddered up from Naegi's chest, sending new aches throbbing through every one of the cuts and bruises he'd gotten when the library bookshelf had fallen on him. He tried to swallow it back and hold himself still — but the effort only made it worse, catching in his throat until a deep, hacking cough shook his entire body. Naegi tried to lean on the music stand pole to keep himself upright, but he couldn't help but slump over —
Sending a long lance of white-hot pain through his left arm. Black spots bubbled up across his vision as every neuron from elbow to fingertip blazed with fresh agony. He clenched his teeth together and tried to hold himself together through the pain, tried to keep hold of the pole so he could at least remain upright, but he'd forgotten how badly it hurt. Echoes of his own voice rang in his ears, barely recognizable as the pain tore mangled sounds from his throat with every breath.
He could feel his head spinning, sending waves of nausea churning through his stomach as the room tilted madly around him — or was he actually swaying on his feet enough to make it seem like the room spun? He couldn't tell anymore, not with his injured arm sapping so much of his energy and awareness. His fingers twitched and cramped in spite of his best efforts, and he could feel his grip on the pole shifting. It slipped across the ground, and the impact as it bumped into an obstacle hit his injuries like a blow.
It was too much. Enduring the pain, gripping the pole, maintaining his balance — he couldn't do all of it. With his mind clouded and his vision blurred, he wasn't sure he could do any of it. The fingers of his right hand went slack, and he heard the distant clatter of the pole hitting the ground as his knees buckled.
He knew what was coming next, tried to brace himself for the pain of hitting the floor. but before that could happen, strong hands caught him and held him upright —
Caught him by the shoulders. Pain exploded down through his arms, even worse than it had been before.
Naegi screamed.
